Our Spontaneous Stranger Things Tour
Over the holiday break, my husband and I decided to go to Atlanta for a night to take our children to Legoland Discovery Center and maybe the Georgia Aquarium. We went to Legoland Discovery Center (which was unfortunately a bust—most of the rides/experiences were broken and it was too crowded to really enjoy any of the activities). The next morning, we were trying to decide whether to go to the aquarium, World of Coke, or zoo, and my husband casually asked me, “Hey, that Hawkins Lab place from Stranger Things is just around the corner—do you want to go see it?”
HECK-FREAKIN’-YES!!!
It’s no secret that I am a huge Stranger Things fan. I even help lead a Stranger Things Fan Club at my middle school! Stranger Things is my childhood (minus the scary monsters). I remember riding through the neighborhood on my bike with my friends, our parents having no idea where we were, having adventures until the setting sun drove us home. I didn’t grow up with a cell phone, hung out at the mall for hours with only $10 in my pocket, and wore scrunchies and baggy clothes before it was vsco. Now, as a Language Arts teacher, I love having conversations with some of my students about the well-developed plot, characters, conflicts, setting, and themes of the series. So when given the opportunity to visit some of the locations where the series was filmed, of course I was all in!
As we pulled up to the front gates of the Hawkins National Laboratory (located at Emory University’s Briarcliff Campus), I could see the building looming in the distance. At first I thought we would be locked out, but we were in luck! Nobody had closed that gate! (Bahahaha…) The parking lot was nearly vacant, with only one other car of people doing the same thing we were doing…checking out Hawkins National Lab! I could see why this building was chosen for Stranger Things…its lack of real windows gives it a very mysterious and eerie look. The lady in the other car offered to take our photo for us and said they had already visited several other locations in the area, which motivated us to keep on going!
After visiting the zoo (because my four and six-year-old boys aren’t quite old enough to understand why riding around and stopping at all these strange buildings to take pictures was fun to me), we headed to Tiffany’s Kitchen in Lithia Springs, the site of Benny’s Burgers from Season One. Again, there was only one other family dining there when we arrived, and I’m pretty sure they had never heard of Stranger Things. I felt a bit silly as I tried to take a few photos between bites of my amazing breakfast-for-dinner. We haven’t had food like that in a long time! The ladies who waited on us were as sweet as could be, and my kids thoroughly enjoyed their pancakes. I highly recommend eating here, and not just because it’s a cool Stranger Things location! It’s truly a gem of a restaurant.
Then we rode to Douglasville, the site of several Stranger Things locations, including the Palace Arcade, which is an old laundromat (and currently for sale!). The purple and orange paint is peeling already, and you can see the tiled floors of the arcade scenes if you peek through the windows. I tried to get my son to pose as if he were Will getting a glimpse into the Upside Down…but all I got was a series of him dancing around (Alas…the perpetual plight of a momtographer…).
After that, we headed towards Hawkins Middle School, which is actually the old campus of Patrick Henry High School and still the location of some district offices. It had just turned dark when we arrived, but it was obvious we were in the right place, because the huge “Hawkins Middle School” name is still painted on the side of the gym. I could just see the kids battling the demogorgon, Eleven in her sensory-deprivation pool, and the Snow Ball taking place inside that gym. We decided to go ahead and spend the night in a nearby hotel so that we could continue our adventure the next day!
The next morning we woke up and rode to downtown Jackson, which is downtown Hawkins! There we saw many locations from the show, including the corner where the Hawk Movie Theatre was located (now a tavern), Melvald’s General Store, right next to Bob’s Radio Shack (we found the sign hung up in a nearby shopping corner, presumably to preserve it), and Hawkins Library (Jackson Co. Probate Court). Then we headed back towards Atlanta and stopped back by Hawkins Middle School so we could see it during the day.
After visiting the World of Coke (another detour to pacify our boys), we started to head back towards Charlotte. Since we had to pass through Duluth, GA on the way home, and Gwinnett Place Mall was right off of an exit, we decided to make one last pit stop and visit Starcourt Mall! This was by far the most fascinating of the locations we visited, for many reasons. The production team reconstructed Starcourt Mall inside one of the wings of this mall, which remains blocked off with black curtains and a wall (makes me wonder if they might be using it again for Season 4?). But if you ride up and down the escalator several times (LOL), you can get a peek into the infamous food court! I was definitely a mallrat back in the 80s and 90s when I was a middle and high schooler and had a ton of fun in malls like this. But this mall is CREEPY. It was virtually deserted. We found a bathroom with only one operating toilet, and I was actually a bit startled when another lady came in! We did not see many people at this mall at all, and many of the stores are completely vacant. You can still see lots of stage lighting installed in the ceilings and some of the storefront facades, but for the most part, this is a dead mall. If only they would open up the wing where Stranger Things was filmed and maybe offer tours of some sort! I feel like that could give this dying mall a boost.
Overall, this spontaneous little trip was way more fun that we originally planned because of all the Stranger Things excursions. My only regret was not planning for it in advance and bringing more of my lenses. We will definitely be going back for more later this year, and next time, I will bring more of my photography gear so that I can have even more fun!
